Wishing Fountains
It's a quarter after twelve...or somewhere thereabout. You may ask yourself why I'm still awake after midnight on a work-night. I guess they're called work-nights when you're out of school. Either that or just "weeknights." Anyway, I have no strong pull to go to bed at this moment. Nothing on my mind. Just blogging.

I intended to write about a current land controversy that's taking place north of Jackson. You know how these successful business people are. They just don't have any sense, and I'm sure I'll get around to writing about that later...by which point some other prominent community member will probably be in the news for some stupid reason, giving me more headaches about which issue is more important to address. I'm sure all three of you who read this blog will sit on the edge of your seats waiting for it.

Tonight, as I sit on my couch listening to the rain through the window directly behind me, I don't feel particularly crafty. I always like hearing the rain as I go to bed. It has a soothing sound to it, and somehow, I feel even more at home than normal in my own bed when I know I am indoors protected from the storm outside.

Last night, a friend and I were talking about wishing fountains. Do you remember being a kid and asking a parent for a coin to toss into a fountain? We were told simply to make a wish and throw the coin--usually a penny or a nickel. No sense in using a whole dime for making a wish. The fountains that were the most fun to throw coins into were the ones that had multiple layers of running water or shelves stacked up where the water could flow down progessively to the bottom pool. That bottom pool was always layered with coins already from the hundreds of folks who had made their wishes previously. I didn't like the idea of throwing a coin into the bottom pool because I thought it would be really easy for someone else to come along and steal my wish later on. Somehow the coin and the wish were one and the same. The best thing to do is to see if you can toss your coin into the very highest level of the fountain. That way it would have a more elite position, and it would be really hard for someone to take it back. So you take a coin in hand, make a wish, and toss it. The funny thing is, sometimes you can't even tell where it lands when all's said and done. It looks like you got it in the tiny bowl in the center of the fountain, but with all the moving water and the reflections of light, you can't really tell. Regardless, you still hope that the wish comes true.

I don't know why I'm thinking about wishing fountains. Maybe the sound of the rain reminds me of the running water. What I do know is that it's been a long time since I've thrown a coin into a fountain. In fact, I can't remember when I last did it. I wonder what that says about my wishes. The time's long overdue for me to try to land one in the top level again.